Russia’s President Vladimir Putin cleared the room for delegates and officials for a one-on-one meeting with India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, adding that the sharing of perceptions was part of the 55-minute meeting. was an important part.
Ajit Doval met the Russian President on February 9 where both countries agreed to continue working towards implementing the India-Russia strategic partnership.
“NSA Ajit Doval met His Excellency President Putin. Wide ranging discussions on bilateral and regional issues. Agreed to continue working towards implementing the India-Russia strategic partnership,” the Indian Embassy in Moscow had tweeted.
The Kremlin said that President Putin met with heads of delegations participating in multilateral consultations on Afghanistan.
“It was a face-to-face meeting. Putin wanted all the delegation and officials to leave the room. The two discussed bilateral issues,” said a source.
“Perception sharing was an important aspect they discussed… It is important that the head of state spoke to the NSA face-to-face. It was a 55-minute meeting.”
In his address at the multilateral meeting on Afghanistan, Doval said that no country should be allowed to use Afghan territory for exporting terrorism and asserted that India will never turn away the people of Afghanistan in their time of need.
The meeting was attended by representatives of Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, apart from Russia and India. Doval began a two-day visit to Russia on Wednesday.
Russian Ambassador to New Delhi Denis Alipov on Monday said that Russia wants to further diversify its relations with India.
The NSA’s visit to Russia comes three months after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s visit to the country, during which both sides vowed to expand their economic engagement, including India’s imports of petroleum products from their “time-tested” partner.
Doval’s visit to Moscow was also preceded by the meeting of the G-20 foreign ministers in New Delhi.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to visit India on March 1 and 2 to attend the meeting.